Rumblings and rumors within the industry sound like Sony’s cloud-gaming partnership with Gaikai will include bringing PS1 and PS2 compatibility to the PlayStation 3.

Last week, there were rumors that Sony is planning to announce a partnership with either Gaikai or Onlive (both cloud-based gaming services) to bring some kind of partnership service to PlayStation.

Well, according to Games Industry International’s sources close to the deal, the Sony + Gaikai partnership will include a way for third-party publishers (as well as first party Sony products) to bring their catalogues to the PlayStation Store.

And since most current PS3 Slim models do not have backwards compatibility, it only makes sense for Sony to employ a cloud-based gaming solution that will allow players to purchase games and stream them on their console. That’s exactly what Gaikai and Onlive subscribers have been doing for the last two years.

It’s not yet clear which systems this partnership service will show up on, but one can see that the PS3 and the PS Vita would best benefit from it. And since Sony has been eyeing cloud-based gaming solutions for a while now, this new partnership will help their R&D to test the waters and understand user needs for their next console release.

Discuss:

If the Sony/Gaikai deal comes to fruition, would you purchase PS1 and PS2 games and stream them on your PS3/Vita? How much should Sony ask for these digital streaming games?